CHAPTER XIII 



BIRDS AT NIGHT 



WE generally think of birds as creatures of 

 the day, and so they are for the most part ; 

 night is the time of the beasts, which use their 

 noses more than the birds indeed, most birds 

 behave as if they could not smell at all, and 

 so they would have a difficulty in finding their 

 way where a beast could scent it out without 

 any trouble. So it comes about that night- 

 time is bed-time with most birds, and it is very 

 interesting to see how they go about putting 

 themselves to bed. Generally they " tuck 

 their heads under their wings " as we say, 

 but this does not mean that they lift up their 

 wing and put their head under it ; what 

 happens is that they tuck their head in 

 between the first joint of the wing, close to 

 the body, and the body itself, using the wing 



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